المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

National Council on Food and Nutrition Security Suggestions to the Report on Multistakeholder Partnerships to Finance and Improve Food Security and Nutrition in the Framework of the 2030 Agenda

1. Concerning who are the stakeholders in food security and nutrition, it is important to contemplate the civil society. The interaction between government and civil society enriched food security and nutrition public policy of Brazil, besides achieving promising results in the fight against hunger and poverty. Brazil found original solutions to eliminate hunger and poverty, imposing to the State the obligation of implementing public policies that guarantee the fundamental rights of the human being: the right to minimum income, food, health, education and work. The Brazil’s main lessons from this dialogue in the social construction process of new governance for the public policies to reduce hunger and poverty and to promote the human right to adequate food were:

i) Systemic and intersectorial approach for the provision of public policies within the State;

ii) Civil society relevant role due to social participation formal mechanisms;

iii) Human rights framework in guiding the public policies formulation;

iv) Family and peasant agriculture, women, indigenous peoples and traditional communities seen as leading elements of food and nutritional sovereignty and security;

v) Primacy of traditional and agroecological forms of agricultural production respecting the rights of men and women to cultivate, conserve, use, exchange and sell creole seeds, preserve native foods, medicinal plants and the planet's biodiversity;

vi) About the family primacy, mentioned in section iv, must be added that its support in Brazil made possible to learn that it is not just a poverty reduction form, but also constitutes an action that generates a virtuous circle by producing a more diversified food production, protecting the environment and generating market and local economy. Therefore, this virtuous circle tends to improve nutrition: as food becomes healthier, there is a greater supply and diversity of nutrients, more local production systems are protected, traditional knowledge is valued, among other benefits.

2. The public–private partnerships might be consider, under certain conditions and prior regulation.  It is important to note that this report agenda requires technical expertise coupled with human rights principles political commitment. Therefore, it is essential to protect decisions from conflicts of interest and private sector interference. Otherwise, actors who lead to hegemonic and conflicting nutrition systems will continue to play a decisive role at the decision making process and it will become impossible to overcome challenges in this area of nutrition.

3. Within this context, public-private partnerships, if viable, require prior regulation in order to create mechanisms that place the primacy of collective interest over the interests of private sectors or groups (especially large and/or transnational corporations with high economic power). Food Security and Nutrition, even when financed by the private sector, must have full autonomy to recommend actions from the perspective of strengthening human rights, promoting healthy eating and preserving local food production systems. Therefore, it is relevant to protect decisions from conflicts of interest and interference from hegemonic sectors and violators of the human right to adequate food.